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Minnie’s First Week Home

Amanda Graham Family, Joyful Home, Pictures, Puppy , Leave a comment

I’ve been meaning to write this blog for a week now, a long with several others, but it has just been one of those weeks.  Bringing a puppy home is a lot like bringing a newborn baby home – they need constant care and supervision and lots of love and affection.  And while they don’t eat as often as a baby, they do need to be taken out just as often as diapers need to be changed.  But it’s been a good week for all of that.  Allergies and strep throat have visited our house as well, and while in some ways made it a little more difficult, it also gave us plenty of laying around time to bond with our new family member.

So…Minnie is home!  We got to bring her home last Saturday and she is everything that we wanted in a puppy.  She is the typical miniature schnauzer – happy, peppy, friendly, super smart, a quick learner, obedient and eager to please, and a natural with family connections.  She is also affectionate, playful, and a very good cuddler.  She has brought us all the joys that a new puppy does, but for us, even more so.

So without further adieu, here are some snapshots of our first week with Minnie Mia Lulu

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Spiderman Birthday Party

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Our Amazing Judah turned 5 this year and we just had  to celebrate Spidey style.  Judah has been in love with Spiderman since some time around last summer-fall, but not because he had seen any of the movies or comics or cartoons; Judah fell in love with Spiderman when he saw a costume in the store.  So for 9 months, he had been asking for a Spiderman birthday party.

Now that he’s 5, and has a much stronger opinion about everything, I wanted to throw Judah a “super cool” party – one that he would say was cool.  In May we gave Justice an Elmo party that involved turning our entire dining room into Elmo’s World using butcher paper and crayons.  It was a huge hit with the kids, so I wanted to do something just as big and special for Judah’s party.

Of course, my first and foremost goal is to make my child’s day special without blowing our budget, so I try to make most of the decorations…this is where it takes a lot of creativity, and it helps that my mother-in-law has the Cricut and is a really good sport for all my ideas.  I also found a couple of blogs out there that had some cool ideas that I incorporated into our party.  I just searched “spiderman birthday party.”  So here are all of my ideas, almost all homemade:

For the invitations I got this idea from a blog I found.  I printed a free online coloring page of spiderman’s head on red cardstock and cut it out.  Then I cut a slightly smaller shape from spiderman comic books and glued on the back side.  I got some used, inexpensive comics from a local comic store for this.  Then I printed the party info on vellum and stuck on top of the comics.  I had to use special vellum tape  = $6.

  My first idea for decorating was to make a giant web and have it suspended in the air…some black yarn and time was all I needed for this…a big impression for cheap = huge success.  I then added to my original thought by connecting the web to a spiderman cut-out to make it look like Spiderman was shooting the web.  I accomplished this in two ways.  The first was made with a spiderman poster and some foam board = $7.  The second was made from a spiderman gift bag I had leftover from another birthday party.  I simply cut the spiderman figure out and glued it to a poster board I already had = free!  Here’s how they turned out

As far as other decorations go, I made pom-poms out of tissue paper, as well as bought a couple of lanterns. My mother-in-law made webs and call-out sign with her Cricut. She also had a cartridge that made cityscapes that I used. And I did buy a banner and spiderman cups (they held candy) that was on clearance at our local party store.

I also incorporated a large cityscape painted on a poster board. I just used a small cityscape that was cut out with the Cricut, and a projector, and traced and painted. I put the large cityscape on the party favor table.

As far as party favors, I try to keep them simple and not spend too much money on them because, as a mom of 3 little kids, I know where they end up…lost or in the trash. So, I got the idea to make these fry boxes from a blog I found, also made with the Cricut, so all we had to do was fold and glue them. I decorated them with a tiny cityscape, a call-out, and a sticker. I made the boy and girl boxes a little different, but that was mostly because I could only find 1 pack of spiderman masks. So I gave those to the boys, and made girl masks from a foam kit I found at Walmart. Then I threw in some spidey tattoos, spiderman pinata candy, and a spiderman coloring page.

For food we had Doc Ock hot dogs, with chili to go along with it. Bugles in honor of the Daily Bugle, the newspaper that Peter Parker photographs for. My husband made our own copy of the newspaper for this special occasion. As far as the cake goes, I just have to say I have an amazing cake lady. She gets all the credit for her work.

Here are just a few extra photos to complete the picture

All in all, everything turned out very nice. I think all the kids had fun, and Judah was very happy with everything. All the hard work paid off with another successful party.

Cheer-up Cookies

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This is how I spent naptime today. We were talking about cheering people up today in school, and Bella and Judah both said they needed cheering up, and honestly, so did I. So I thought this might do the trick. Family cookies~Daddy, Mommy, Judah, Bella, & Justice. Letter A and Number 4 in a repeating pattern. Baseball cookies for the boys. Heart cookies for Bella. Everyone loved them, even Daddy and his “perfect women” who is sweet and doesn’t nag ;)  Success…happy family = happy mommy :D

Bella’s Victory

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The coolest toilet seat ever

I must take a moment and brag on my baby girl, Bella.  I had been fighting, what felt like a losing battle, for the past 2 years trying to get her potty-trained.  I first started trying when she was 18 months old but was already communicating to me that she had to use the bathroom.  It didn’t work out well, though, because every time she actually had to sit on the toilet she got scared, of falling in I guess.  And the traditional potty chairs were not a option as I quickly realized that using them was a bad idea when you have 3 little ones running around the house, and in and out of the bathroom all day long.  Crawling babies + busy little fingers + chair sitting on the floor that could have urine in it at in given time = grossness.  That’s why I was excited when I found the Bemis toilet seat that had a built-in potty seat.  It fits smaller bodies and holds them up, which takes away the feeling of falling in.  Bella was excited about it too, or at least the idea of it.  I got the new toilet seat right after her 2nd birthday and tried potty-training again with this new approach.  But she didn’t want to use the bathroom with this new toilet seat either.  She didn’t want to take time away from playing to use it.  I also tried rewarding her with everything I could think of.  I would set a timer to go off every 15 minutes, and then I would take her to the bathroom…sometimes she would, but most of the time she would just sit there with nothing happening.  I honestly don’t know how a little girl could drink so much, and sit on the toilet for so long, and still never pee.  Except for, of course, when I would finally get her off the toilet because her legs were falling asleep.  She would go as soon as I got her off the toilet and put a diaper back on her, however. 

So then I figured that she just needed to wear panties so that she could feel wet and uncomfortable when she peed, and hopefully, that would make her want use the potty.  Nope, wrong again.  She didn’t mind being wet; she just kept right on playing – wet panties and all.  I began to wonder if she had a physical ailment that kept her from feeling wet because who could be okay with just walking around in wet pants?  Nobody, not even little newborn babies, hence the nonstop crying.  But somehow she was.  This led to much frustration, for me and her, so I would take a break from the whole ordeal, and then try again after a week or two, and we carried on like that for more than a year.  I kept setting new goals:  to have her using the potty by her third birthday ~ but that came and went…before we moved ~ no such luck…before Christmas ~ another fail…by the first of the year ~ still nothing. 

Finally, I realized that this was something that was completely out of my control.  I could continue to do everything I was doing, but if she didn’t decide to do it for herself, it just didn’t matter.  She had to be ready.  So I brought the matter into our bedtime prayers every night and asked God to help her, and me.  And I noticed that she did start doing better.  She would keep a dry diaper most of the time, but she would still not use the potty unless I made her.  So then I decided to follow the advice of our pediatrician…I took her to the store and let her pick out something that she REALLY wanted, but I told her that we couldn’t get it for her until she went a whole week without having any accidents.  She’s in love with My Little Pony right now, so I made sure that we went down that aisle of the toy store.  And it was there that she found it, the thing she most wanted, a talking Princess Celestia.  This was not your average, every day My Little Pony pony either ~ this pony was much bigger, had wings that moved and lit up, and was a whopping $20.  And trust me, she WANTED it, real bad.  So we came home and gave it another go.  I bought training pants instead of diapers and prepared myself to just deal with whatever messes were to come.  I got rid of the timer and decided to just leave it up to her to tell me when the “pee pee started coming.”  And this time, any time she fussed I would remind her about Princess Celestia.  Before I realized it, we were 3 days into a week without any accidents. 

Sunday morning when Bella and I came downstairs, she asked me where we were going.  I explained to her that we were gonna stay home to work on potty-training some more,  (Justice was sick so I was keeping him home from church and decided to keep Bella home too) and when she started to complain and say that she didn’t want to, I reminded her that we couldn’t get Princess Celestia until she went a whole week without any accidents.  So she said okay and walked away.  But then, as I was walking away, I overheard her say, “Jesus, can you please help not to pee pee in my panties, and get Princess Celestia.  Please help me pee pee in the potty, please help me.”  I stopped and listened to make sure of what I was hearing.  And she just kept saying over and over “please help me pee pee  in the potty, please help me pee pee in the potty.”  She was still saying it as I walked up to her, so I asked, “Bella, are you talking to me?”  She replied, “No, I’m talking to Jesus!”  And then the next day while we were eating breakfast, Bella pointed at the calendar on the fridge and asked me how many more days until she could get Princess Celestia, and immediately started asking Jesus for help again.  And He did help her. 

So, on Wednesday we got up and celebrated a whole week that Bella went without having any accidents.  We went to the store and bought her her reward, and then we came home and had a Potty Party.  She did it!  She understood what she needed to do, she prayed and asked Jesus for help, all on her own, and she did it!  So after 2 years of working, and striving, and trying, and rewarding, and bribing, and trying again…I can say that Bella is finally potty-trained, but not because of anything I did.  She prayed and asked Jesus for help, and He did.  I am so proud of her, but not for using the potty, but for understanding, as a 3 year old, that she needed God.  So she asked Him for help, and won quite a victory.     

Her reward for going a whole week without any accidents

Oh Happy Day!

Amanda Graham Joyful Heart, Pictures, Spiritual , Leave a comment

     What a happy Resurrection Day we had this year.  With the presence of God filling the room and our hearts as we remembered our Lord and His Sacrifice, I was reminded of how blessed we are to be a part of such an awesome church family.  And I was even more blessed to have my own family in church with me as well.  It is my earnest prayer that my heart and my mind would come to fully know all the Jesus did for us when he died on the cross and arose 3 days later.  May I get a true revelation of His Sacrifice and never forget, but always, always remember.

Justice River

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Justice is our baby.  He was born on Pentecost, and we named him Justice River because he will walk in the righteousness of the Lord, and the Holy Spirit will flow from him like a River.  We believe God will use him as His voice for the cause of LIFE.  “But let justice roll on like a river, righteousness like a never-failing stream!” ~Amos 5:24.  Like our other babies, Justice is full of song.  He began singing when he was just hours old and he often sings himself to sleep.  He gets extremely happy when he hears music and mimics us by lifting his hands during worship.  He adores his big brother and sister and is quick to smile and laugh.  He’s tiny, but very strong, and learns at an incredible rate.  From the time he was born he knew who his Mommy was, and he has formed a special bond with me.  He’s a sweet baby and will be a mighty man of God.

Arabella Jada

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Arabella is our coveted princess.  She is the little girl that every mother desires.  Her name means beautiful altar, and she was born with the heart of Mary.  She is full of passion and desire and emotion, and is  full throttle all the time.  Whatever emotion she is experiencing, she experiences it in its fullness.  She is either extremely happy, or extremely upset, no in-between, and she has the ability to go from one to the other instantly.  She loves much, and therefore requires much love and affection.  She is tenacious, and I love that about her.  “No” is only temporary to her, she will not give in until she is satisfied.  She is not shy, but fearless.  She is full of song and dance, and she is an encourager to Judah.  She is gorgeous and full of life.  She is our princess, destined to be a queen.

Judah Aaron

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Judah means praise.  We named him this proclaiming that he will praise his God.  He came at a special time in our lives.  His due date was 7.7.07, which was the coveted day for all children to be born that year.  So much so that there were countless scheduled c-sections and deliveries, but we decided to let him come on his own time, and he came 10 days later, 7.17.07.  He was so loved and so wanted before he got here, and when he did arrive, he brought an abundance of love and joy.  We believe that he is born with the same heart of worship that Jason and I share, and he is full of music.  He play the drums, guitar, piano, and violin, and does so surprisingly well for his age.  He is full of passion and fire, and he has a gift of seeing and hearing supernaturally.  He is 3 years old now and has a younger brother and sister, and he has proven to be the best big brother.  He has a sweet, leading heart and always looks out for them, and he always seeks to teach them and to share with them.  He is our first-born son, and he is perfect.